Kovalev, Canadiens pound Bruins

MONTREAL (Ticker) -- Success in the faceoff circle helped the
Montreal Canadiens to post a second consecutive win on home ice
as they handed the hot Boston Bruins a 6-1 loss Monday night.

Alexei Kovalev tallied a goal and an assist and Bryan Smolinski
notched an assist in his 1,000th career game for the Canadiens,
who snapped Boston's winning streak at four games.

Montreal centers won draws in the first and second period to set
the table for the team's first two tallies of the night.

Captain Saku Koivu pulled the puck back toward blue-liner Mike
Komisarek, who stepped into the puck and drove his shot into
Bruin goalie Manny Fernandez. Chris Higgins pounced on the
rebound at the top of the crease and buried the return inside
the left post for a 1-0 advantage at the 12:14 mark.

"We played smart, we didn't have a ton of chances but we
capitalized on most of them," Koivu said. "I think tonight that
was the difference. If you compare this to our previous five
games we had a lot of chances but we didn't score. Tonight they
were going in for us."

In the second period, second-year center Tomas Plekanec
controlled a draw in the left faceoff to Kovalev, who one-timed
it from just outside the faceoff circle. The bang-bang play
gave Montreal a 2-0 advantage 6:28 into the period.

Steve Begin made it a three-goal cushion with his first tally of
the year with 2:12 remaining in the middle session. Defenseman
Tom Kostopoulos rushed the puck from the Canadiens zone and
passed to Begin, who knocked the puck home at the left post.

Boston had several quality chances but were continually
frustrated by the acrobatics of Montreal netminder Cristobal
Huet, who turned aside 31 of 32 shots.

"He (Huet) made some good saves tonight, but at the same time we
have to be there for the second shot and setup for the
rebound," Bruins center Patrice Bergeron said. "Maybe we got off
the gameplan a little bit in the first period. We knew they
were pretty good on draws, we just need to be more focused.
It's not one guy, there's five guys on the ice and sometimes
there's a clean faceoff but it's everyone on the ice that has a
job to do."

The Bruins had a golden opportunity in the first to open the
scoring when a Montreal turnover produced a 2-on-1 break. Glen
Metropolit gathered in the loose puck and raced down the left
side with Glen Murray following along the left boards.

Metropolit elected to shoot, snapping off a crisp wrist shot
from 30 feet out, and Huet deflected the puck right to the
onrushing Murray. The veteran right wing's quick release was
smothered by a diving Huet, snuffing out that chance.

With the Bruins on the power play in the second period, Huet
shut the door not once but twice in succession on rookie David
Krejci.

"Tonight was huge for us," Huet said. "They (Boston) were on a
good roll and have been playing well. We need to play 60
minutes and have everybody contribute, if they do we will be a
tough team."

After Montreal made it 4-0 on Patrice Brisebois' power play
wrister from the left point, Boston finally got on the board
6:41 into the third period.

Canadiens defenseman Mark Streit was called for a holding
penalty and Bruins defenseman Dennis Wideman took advantage,
knocking a power-play wrister from the point past Huet to cut
the deficit to 4-1.

But Montreal was not finished. Veteran center Smolinski, who
was playing in his 1,000th career NHL contest, took advantage of
a delayed penalty by starting a 2-on-1 break with rookie
Mikhail Grabovski.

As he had done 361 times previously in his career, Smolinski set
up his teammate and Grabovski put a wrister past Fernandez for
his first career goal 9:34 into the third.

"It was just fun to be in this game," Smolinski said. "I came in
with Glen (Murray)
and he'll reach his mark soon. I also remember my first goal,
so to be part of that milestone for Grabovski was special."

The Canadiens added another tally three minutes later on the
power play, with Andrei Markov converting an unassisted chance
for his third goal of the young season.

"They did score some nice goals but we gave a lot of 2-on-1's
tonight," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "I think we gave more
tonight than in all seven games combined. To summarize the
game it was a good start, we had some chances and their
goaltender made some very good saves and then those faceoffs
cost us the first two goals, so it kind of changed the momentum
of the game and we were back pedalling. If anything I think we
lost our composure."